When you press play on the DINER DVD, you're subjected to a five-minute introduction to the film by the cast and crew. It's incredibly smug and arrogant, a boast of the film's timelessness and quality. The first time I watched the film, I almost turned it off right after Steve Guttenberg, that fine purveyor of quality products, guaranteed me that I would love the film.
But if you manage to make it past this incredibly crass piece of promotional fluff, you'll find a wonderful piece of personal filmmaking that backs up all its talk. DINER is an exceptional film, something that feels so true to its characters that they cease to be characters. The basic set-up is that it's the last week of the 1950's as a group of old friends re-unite for their friend's wedding on New Year's Eve.
Barry Levinson's script is impeccably crafted, witty and personal and seeped in period details that makes me feel nostalgic for an era that I wasn't even remotely close to alive for. The film is saturated with a love for the innocence of the fifties, and a faint feeling of dread for the coming turbulence of the sixties hangs over everything. I think what makes the film so accessible is that it's actually about the past, about the memories that make us who we are, a theme Levinson further explored in the great LIBERTY HEIGHTS. Levinson is able to tap in to our fondness for the past, and DINER feels like hearing your grandfather tell you How It Really Was.
I watch DINER at least once a year, and I always see new things in it, and relate to it differently as I mature. My relationships with the characters are always in flux, and I see pieces of myself and my friends in the dynamics of the film. What never changes is my love for the dialogue-heavy script, which revels in the art of conversation, basks in the power of words.
The cast of DINER is the other great strength of the film, bringing a depth and realism to the characters that isn't necessarily on the page. Kevin Bacon gives the best non-Paul Veerhoven performance of his career as the troubled alcoholic fuck-up Fenwick, a loyal friend whose simmering anger belies his goof personality. Tim Daly (yes, the ill-advised remake of The Fugitive's Tim Daly) brings a lot of the heart to the film, as Billy, the friend whose ambition has taken him away from home, but is back for the wedding and another purpose. Daniel Stern is a revelation, playing a man-child trapped in marriage and avoiding any ... y'know, Daniel Stern-ness. Guttenberg's persona has never been utilized better than in this film. Paul Reiser is hilarious. And it's amazing to see what Mickey Rourke can do with a role when he's actually trying.
I'm curious if any of the ladies out there share my love of DINER. The most memorable scenes of the film exist in a strange sexual ethics zone, and how the men relate to it individually. For me, so much of the film's power is in it's depiction of male friendships, in the things that are said and unsaid, what is public and what is left private. I think it's a pitch-perfect depiction of the boundaries of those friendships, and it hits me in a deeply personal way.
But I want to hit that DVD intro in the balls.
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